Mr. Belvedere Goes to College

"That "Sitting Pretty" Man Is Back!!!"

1949 1h 23m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 10

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A middle-aged genius goes to college for the first time.

“That "Sitting Pretty" Man Is Back!!!”

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Cast

Clifton Webb
Lynn Belvedere
Shirley Temple
Ellen Baker
Tom Drake
Bill Chase
Alan Young
Avery Brubaker
Jessie Royce Landis
Mrs. Chase
Kathleen Hughes
Kay Nelson
Taylor Holmes
Dr. Gibbs
Alvin Greenman
Cornelius Whittaker

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Elliott Nugent
Writers: Richard Sale, Mary C. McCall, Jr., Mary Loos
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

83 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

77 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mr. Belvedere Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Elliott Nugent, shot by Lloyd Ahern Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Harmon Jones shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Clifton Webb and Shirley Temple and Tom Drake carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "That "Sitting Pretty" Man Is Back!!!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Elliott Nugent directs. Lloyd Ahern Sr. behind the camera. Alfred Newman scores. Harmon Jones cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
277 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Part of the "Mr. Belvedere Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Elliott Nugent, shot by Lloyd Ahern Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Harmon Jones shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Clifton Webb and Shirley Temple and Tom Drake carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "That "Sitting Pretty" Man Is Back!!!".
9IMDB entry: tt0041662 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 10 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern Sr.
Original score: Alfred Newman
Editing: Harmon Jones
Costume design: Bonnie Cashin
Makeup / hair: Annabell Levy
Runtime: 83 min · 1h 23m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949)

Part of

Mr. Belvedere Collection

Series of 3 movies from 1948-51 featuring the character Lynn Belvedere.

Also by

Elliott Nugent

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-12-24
★ 7/10
Clifton Webb is at his supercilious and pompous best in this outing for his supremely self-confident "Belvedere" character. It seems he has spent all of his book proceeds defending libel actions and so needs to enrol in college to get a basic degree that will enable him to claim a much needed $10,000 prize. He breezes through the entrance exams but is nowhere near as adept when it comes to co-exisiting with his far younger colleagues from the student body. Things only become more complex when he encounters budding school journalist "Ellen" (Shirley Temple). She's also got a few issues, not least being a widowed single mother and having a lively relationship with her current beau "Bill" (Tom Drake) who's still reeling from learning of her own domestic arrangements. It now falls to our eponymous character to try and juggle his needs to keep low-key to claim his funds whilst acting as a sort of match-maker for the young couple. Though Temple acquits herself adequately here, and there are also some fun frat-contributions from Alan Young and Alvin Greenman, this is all just a vehicle for a Webb who manages to keep the increasingly ridiculous scenarios in which he finds himself out of the realms of slapstick. His is a characterful effort that depicts this frankly rather irritating man in an engaging fashion for an eighty minutes that's pithily written and snappily delivered. Along the way, it takes a swipe at all things collegiate, including the snobbishness of the faculty and the daftness of their sorority/fraternity cultures which proves quiet entertaining at times, too. It does rather run out of steam at the end, though, which is a shame but it's still fun to watch this skilled comedy actor in his element.

Production companies